Pedro Agramunt
{{Short description|Spanish politician (1951–2024)}}
Image:Pedro Agramunt janvier 2016.jpg
Pedro Agramunt Font de Mora (12 September 1951 – 25 November 2024) was a Spanish politician.{{cite web|last1=Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe|title=Member Website|url=http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/AssemblyList/AL_MemberDetails.asp?MemberID=4388|accessdate=12 September 2014}} Agramunt was from Valencia and served as a member of the Senate of Spain since 2008. He had previously represented Valencia Province in the Spanish Congress of Deputies from 1989 to 1991 and in the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian regional parliament, from 1991 to 1994. He was a prominent member of the People's Party (Spain). He was also a Chairman of the European People's Party since January 2016 and was active in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, being president until his resignation on 6 October 2017.
Agramunt advocated for further European integration and spoke in favour of supporting Ukraine.{{cite news|title=Agramunt propone que se revise la continuidad de Rusia en el Consejo de Europa|url=http://www.pp.es/actualidad-noticia/agramunt-propone-que-se-revise-continuidad-rusia-consejo-europa|accessdate=12 September 2014|agency=Partida Popular Website|date=6 Mar 2014}}
Background
According to his official biography, Agramunt held a degree in law from the University of Valencia. Agramunt's biography also says that he graduated from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE) in Barcelona, having studied Management Development (1980).{{cite web|last1=European People's Party|title=Pedro Agramunt Official Biography|url=http://www.epp-cd.eu/president/|website=Party Website|accessdate=12 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323095619/http://www.epp-cd.eu/president/|archive-date=23 March 2016|url-status=dead}}
Agramunt was married in 1979 and had two children. He died on 25 November 2024, at the age of 73.[https://www.lasprovincias.es/politica/fallece-exsenador-expresidente-pp-valenciano-pedro-agramunt-20241125093003-nt.html Fallece el exsenador y expresidente del PP valenciano Pedro Agramunt] {{in lang|es}}
Controversy
Although Agramunt had a low profile in non-Spanish media, he was the focus of significant controversy, as he was the rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.{{cite news|title=PACE co-rapporteurs give assessment of situation in Azerbaijani legal system|url=http://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/2308905.html|accessdate=12 September 2014|agency=TREND News Agency}} Human rights activists had criticized Agramunt for his proximity to the regime in Azerbaijan, and have highlighted that he did little to highlight numerous violations of human rights.{{cite news|last1=Medzhid|first1=Faik|title=Human rights defenders believe Pedro Agramunt is not best candidate for position of PACE Rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan|url=http://eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/28547/|accessdate=12 September 2014|agency=CK correspondent|date=27 June 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Amnesty International|title='Arrested. In a bus with great people!'|url=https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/urgent-action-network-blog/arrested-bus-great-people|accessdate=12 September 2014|date=29 January 2013}} Leyla Yunus, one of the Azerbaijani human rights activists that had criticized Agramunt in June 2014, has since been arrested, on charges that Human Rights Watch characterized as "bogus".{{cite web|last1=Human Rights Watch|title=Azerbaijan: Leading Rights Defender Arrested|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/08/05/azerbaijan-leading-rights-defender-arrested-0|accessdate=12 September 2014}}
In 2013, the European Stability Initiative pressed for Agramunt to resign from his position as rapporteur, alleging that he had covered up systematic violations of Human rights in Azerbaijan.{{cite news|last1=European Stability Initiative|title=A Portrait of Deception: Monitoring Azerbaijan or Why Pedro Agramunt should resign|url=http://www.esiweb.org/pdf/esi_document_id_134.pdf|accessdate=12 September 2014|date=22 January 2013}} In 2017 in the report entitled “The Azerbaijani Laundromat” published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project as result of investigative journalism, Agramunt was mentioned to be benefiting from Azerbaijani scheme of money laundering. Furthermore, he played a key role in rigging various votes at PACE in favour of Azerbaijan.{{cite web|url= https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/clean_up_spain_justice_for_azerbaijans_reputation_laundering_in_europe|title=CLEAN UP SPAIN – JUSTICE FOR AZERBAIJAN’S REPUTATION LAUNDERING IN EUROPE|publisher=|access-date=}}
On 28 April 2017, after travelling to Syria to meet Bashar al-Assad, the Bureau of PACE said he was no longer authorized to undertake any official visits, attend meetings, or make public statements on behalf of the assembly in his capacity as president after a vote of no confidence on him.{{cite web|url=http://www.rferl.org/a/pace-agramunt-assad-russia-stripped-of-powers/28457922.html|title=PACE President Stripped Of Powers After Meeting Syria's Assad|publisher=Radio Liberty|date=28 April 2017}}
His partiality as a President of PACE was proven and he eventually resigned as the President of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 6 October 2017.{{cite web|url=https://www.occrp.org/en/27-ccwatch/cc-watch-briefs/7105-pedro-agramunt-resigns-as-president-of-the-parliamentary-assembly-of-the-council-of-europe|title= Pedro Agramunt Resigns as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe|publisher=|access-date=}} [https://dossier-center.appspot.com/kremlin-pace/ Кремлевский легион Совета Европы]
References
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Category:People's Party (Spain) politicians
Category:Members of the Senate of Spain
Category:Politicians from Valencia
Category:Members of the 4th Congress of Deputies (Spain)
Category:University of Valencia alumni